Acrylic fine particles are widely used as light diffusing agents, additives for paints, various surface treatment agents, carriers, and the like. For example, acrylic fine particles can be used as a light diffusing agent to impart light diffusing effects to a diffusing film, a light diffusing plate, lighting equipment, and billboards.
Acrylic fine particles are generally prepared by suspension polymerization and have a spherical bead shape.
When acrylic fine particles are used to provide a diffusion effect, for example in a diffusing film, the beads are required to have solvent resistance (chemical resistance) to maintain processability and coating solution stability. One method for synthesizing acrylic fine particles having a diffusion effect uses acrylic fine particles with increased cross-linking functional groups or cross-linking agents to increase the cross-linking density of the acrylic fine particles.
Acrylic fine particles having high cross-linking density and multi-functional groups can have improved solvent resistance. The compatibility of the acrylic fine particles with a solvent, however, can deteriorate, so that the acrylic fine particles agglomerate.
The acrylic fine particles may not agglomerate in a non-polar solvent, such as benzene-toluene-xylene (BTX), used for a coating solution. However, since the acrylic fine particles are less compatible with polar solvents, such as methyl ethyl ketone (MEK), ethanol, methanol, and the like, they can agglomerate. Accordingly, the diffusing agent is not uniformly dispersed and deposited, which can decrease product quality. This can be problematic and inconvenient when selecting a solvent for acrylic particles for use in diffusion applications.
In addition, there is a need to improve optical performance and efficiency.